a maiden voyage...

Our young niece takes to the skies at Watts Towers.

Everyone in my brother-in-law's family was great in humoring their weird Uncle Vitya during our quick trip to Santa Monica last year. We managed to squeeze in the visit to Watts one busy Saturday afternoon, after my niece's volleyball and my nephew's football, yet before taking a late lunch. If you've ever been around a couple of kids who feel trapped and tired and hungry, you know the shrinkage of attention span that usually occurs. But the complaints were kindly suppressed and the family even seemed to find their first visit to the Towers a little bit interesting.

The afternoon light on this day was flat and dull, the skies overcast and utterly without character. On another occasion, I would try to be at the Towers for the clear sparkle of morning, or else the warm glow of a Pacific sunset. But these days I often find myself without much control over time and place. Usually I just happen to be along for the ride, carrying a camera just in case. Photographically speaking, I take what I can get.

Los Angeles, November 2006.

Rolleiflex T, Fomapan 400.